


Maybe I Need You

by lzclotho



Series: SQ tumblr one-shots [29]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Pre-SQ, Road Trip, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Room, Unresolved Romantic Tension, trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 07:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4171482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lzclotho/pseuds/lzclotho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SwanQueen road trip vignette. Emma gives Regina her red jacket to keep warm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe I Need You

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Emma gives Regina her red jacket](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/122103) by boomboomboom. 



Regina grumbled under her breath. Zeroing in on the sound, Emma turned from emptying the contents of her red jacket’s pockets onto the bedside table to see Regina punching at the buttons of the clearly not working air-conditioning unit of their hotel room.

“What’s wrong?” Emma was on edge after nearly five hours cooped up in the car, and wanted nothing more than to flop out and sleep through til morning. But Regina’s expression told her she wasn’t going to get there just yet.

“I’m cold,” Regina said. “But the heat doesn’t seem to be working.”

Emma tugged off her coat, feeling what Regina meant. The chill of the room was only just slightly less than the temperature of the early spring night outside. 

“Here,” she said without preamble. She crossed the room and tucked her red jacket around Regina’s shoulders. The brunette straightened up at the contact, and backed up into Emma in surprise.

“Oof.” With Regina’s rear pressing into her pelvis, Emma’s hands slipped down Regina’s arms, simultaneously pulling the coat more tightly against Regina’s body, and practically clasping the woman’s body against her own.

“Oh,” Regina crossed her hand over and up, meeting Emma’s on her upper arm. Tingles shot from the point of contact into Emma’s chest. Regina’s gaze lifted to meet Emma’s. “I…thank you.”

Emma looked deeply into the reflection of the light and the night in soft brown. She swallowed, feeling hot and cold waves ripple through her body. She cleared her throat. “Ah, hey, yeah.” She tried to shrug, bringing Regina more tightly against her. “It’s okay.”

The woman’s throat moved in a swallow, and Emma’s gaze was draw down to the sinews and tendons, then slowly she regained her senses and met Regina’s eyes again.

“I’ll take a look, but we might just want to get under the covers. We’ll get back on the road early in the morning.”

“Take a look?” Confusion clear on her features, Regina looked down at Emma’s hands still on her upper arms. “Oh. The heater.”

Emma nodded and stepped back,opening her arms wide, then tucking them behind her back, like she was a kid who’d realized she shouldn’t touch any of the delicate merchandise in the store. 

Regina sank to the corner of the bed. Emma turned away, feeling Regina’s eyes on her back as she bent over the a-c unit.

* * *

Regina gripped the zippered edges of the surprisingly warm pleather against her body, unable to take her eyes off Emma. She watched the woman pull a folded knife from her back jeans pocket, flipping open several items until she found the one she apparently wanted, jerking her head sharply before turning her attention back to the unit. A panel was popped off in short order and Emma twisted a series of wires and knobs before replacing the panel. 

Emma turned a different knob which Regina had tried earlier, and she was about to protest she had already tried that when she heard air moving from the vents. Regina watched a pleased smile bloom on Emma’s features when she moved her hand in front of the vent. Turning to Regina, Emma said, “There.”

Regina nodded and smiled back. “You’re quite handy.”

“I’ve slept in worse places in my life,” Emma said. “Helps to know a little of everything.”

Regina caught the diffident shrug and knew its origins in Emma’s life before Storybrooke. She smiled and offered, “I told you I needed you on this trip.”

Emma sat on the bed next to her. Regina wasn’t sure about that, but she didn’t move away, instead trying to keep her gaze on Emma’s face just a few inches away. “You didn’t want me to come along until after I had killed Cruella, Regina.”

Regina’s throat was getting warm. She wanted to reach up and cup it tightly, it was beginning to feel tingly. “A perfect time to get away.” She heard the rasp in her own voice. “Get your head together.”

“My parents put you up to this, to keep me away from Gold making me go dark?”

Regina protested. “You saw Snow’s reaction when we told her we were going.”

“Yeah, and my mother is among the worst actresses on the planet.”

Emma wasn’t angry. The sound of the woman’s chuckle made Regina’s body go boneless with relief. Regina shook her head and chuckled in return. “You’re probably right.”

“So you did want me on this trip.”

“You’re the only one I can trust, Emma, not to simply leave me out here.”

“I told you I’d have your back.”

Regina crossed her arms against her chest and tugged closer the coat with which Emma had indeed covered her back. “Yes. Yes, you did.”

Emma’s smile was incandescent, and Regina’s stomach twisted queerly.

“We probably ought to get some shut eye.” Emma started to her feet. “You can use the bathroom first.”

Regina watched Emma cross to the other bed, sit down and bend over to remove her boots. “Good night, Emma.”

“Good night, Regina.”

###


End file.
